Policy Decision Support through Social Simulation

Decision making in public policy is a complex problem. Citizens share a common geographic space under a set of political governmental rules. At the same time they are subject to common cultural influences. Public interest relates with individual interests held in common – the result of joining the individual goals for the community. However, community goals may conflict with individuals’ self-interest. Agent technology and social simulation provide us with tools and methodologies that allow for tackling complex social phenomena. Complexity arises, not only due to the complex social interactions but also due to the agents’ heterogeneous rationality. The exploratory nature of this methodology allows the rehearsal of different design scenarios each providing tentative explanations of real world phenomena. Scenarios that provide adequate explanations can be used to predict the behaviour of the society and thus be used to prescribe policy changes.